1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a print managing apparatus, method, program, and recording medium, and to a printing system. For example, the present invention relates to a print managing apparatus, method, program, and recording medium, and to a printing system which manage the printing processing of printed matter when carrying out printing via a plurality of printing steps using a printing plate, or when carrying out printing via a plurality of printing steps using an image forming apparatus (such as a printer or the like) which has a so-called printing function which forms an image onto a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In conventional printing (e.g., offset printing), for example, the intermediate products of a print of a photocomposition (photographic printing paper), a block copy, a negative halftone, a positive halftone, and a presensitized printing (PS) plate are prepared, and printing and binding are carried out by using these intermediate products as the bases for the printing and binding.
For example, the printing step includes the facing step, the RIP step, the CTP step, the printing press step, the folding machine step, the cutting machine step, and the binding machine step. The facing step is a step of deciding upon the image positions in accordance with the layout. The RIP step is a step of preparing image data for printing from the layout data. The CTP step is a step of preparing a printing plate from the image data. The printing press step is a step of carrying out printing by using the printing plate. The folding machine step is a step of carrying out folding in accordance with the specifications of the printed media. The cutting machine step is a step of cutting, in accordance with specifications, the media which have undergone folding after printing. The binding machine step is a step of binding, in accordance with specifications, the media which have undergone folding and cutting after printing. These respective printing steps are carried out independent of one another, and are an independent processing for each step.
In recent years, owing to the increased popularity of DTP (Desktop Publishing/Prepress), “direct printing” or “on demand printing, which is printing directly from the DTP data, has come to be known. In DTP, the following processings are coming into wide use: printing data, which is obtained by processing the page layout on a computer, is formed on a photographic printing paper or a plate-making film, and on the basis thereof, a printing plate is prepared and printing is carried out. Further, much attention is also being paid to CTP (Computer-To-Plate) in which a printing plate is formed directly from electronic data without forming an intermediate product. Image forming apparatuses which are equipped with a printing function, such as printers and copy machines, are known as structures which can be used in such printing processing.
In electrophotographic printers which are often used in offices, automation by giving instructions from a client to respective devices has been proposed.
In recent years, a fusion of printing and electrophotography has been seen, such as in digital color structures by printers and on-demand printing. However, the current situation is that automation is instructed to devices under individual standards because the work flows are different.